Lingnan College Hong Kong : President's Report 1983-1984
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Lingnan University Digital Commons @ Lingnan University Annual Reports Lingnan University (Hong Kong) : Publications 1-1-1984 Lingnan College Hong Kong : President's report 1983-1984 Lingnan College, Hong Kong Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.ln.edu.hk/lingnan_annualreport Recommended Citation Lingnan College, Hong Kong (1984). Lingnan College Hong Kong: President's report 1983-1984. Hong Kong: Lingnan College. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Lingnan University (Hong Kong) : Publications at Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Annual Reports by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. PRESIDENT,S REPORT LINGNAN COLLEGE HONG KONG From DR. JOHN T.S.CHEN President 嶺南學院 HONG KONG Continuing the traditions of Lingnan University founded in Canton in 1887 PRESIDENT'S REPORT 1983 - 84 LINGNAN COLLEGE PRESIDENT'S REPORT Presented at the Graduation Ceremony on 9th November 1984 Contents Message from the President Recruitment of Staff and Students General Academic Developments Extramural Studies Extracurricular Activities Depattmdntal News Library Amenities and Facilities Staff and Alumni News Appendices I. Scholarships, Bursaries and Loans II. Grants and Book Donations III. Distinguished Visitors IV. New Staff V. Student Enrolments VI. Advisory Boards VII. External Examiners VIII. Publicat ions MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT I must first congratulate our graduates who are receiving their diplomas today and our students who will be awarded Certificates of Merit. I wish you every success in your career and further studies. Your active contributions will be vital to the development of Hong Kong as a vibrant and prosperous society. I propose to take this opportunity to share with you some of my thoughts about the challenges our community faces and the role of higher education in helping to meet such challenges. It has been predicted that the 21st century will be the century of the Pacific and the centre of the world economy will shift to this region. Since Hong Kong is strategically located at the rim of the Pacific and is on its way to becoming once again an integral part of China, I think our community should look forward to meeting some very big challenges. First and above all, we must energetically prepare ourselves for "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong". This will involve the development of an election system whereby a suitable representative government may be established. Our future government must be dedicated to maintaining our stability and prosperity and safeguarding our lift-style and our high degree of autonomy. Second, we must improve our social structures, seeing that they conform to the principles of justice, freedom and democracy as well as the rule of law. We must ensure that human rights and human dignity will receive complete protection and the highest respect, and that each person's human potential will be given every opportunity for full development. 1 Third, we must endeavour to make Hong Kong s culture, economy and society even greater successes than they are now. Outstanding achievements in these areas will be one of the best safeguards for maintaining our economy, our democracy and our legal system over a long period of time. Fourth, we must develop close links with the rest of China and, where possible, make an effective contribution towards the modernization of China. Finally, we must develop closer ties with the vast Pacific region, particularly with East Asia and Southeast Asia, while not neglecting our trading relations with other parts of the world. -1 - Higher education has many worthy goals. From now on, one of i t.s major goals in Hong Kong will be to prepare young leaders who will have the will and competence to meet the challenges described above. Our institutions of higher learning, therefore, must not be content with producing narrowly specialized professionals and tech- nicians. In addition to offering professional training, they must, through the provision of a well-designed general education programme, 1 .seek to broaden young people s horizons and vision of the world, clarify their thinking on big issues and cultivate in them a strong sense of civic and political responsibility and a firm commitment to making Hong Kong a better place to live in. To prepare themselves for shouldering civic and political responsibility in the future, i t will be highly desirable for students to pursue such general education courses as Social and Political Philosophy, Fundamentals of Political Science, Comparative Political Systems, Law and Society, etc. In view of Hong Kong's increasingly close ties with the rest of China, it will be certainly useful for our students to learn about Chinese law, society and social thought. Students should be encouraged to learn to speak Putonghua (Mandarin). Academic staff should set a good example in this respect. It is high time, too, for tertiary institutions in Hong Kong to develop more academic exchanges with universities on the mainland. Academics and students should be encouraged to visit China to familiarize themselves with the latest developments on the mainland. At present, Hong Kong is already an important financial and trading centre in the Pacific region. Serving as the key channel for China's foreign trade. Hong Kong has every reason to look ahead to an even greater regional role in the decades ahead. It will be conducive to this important regional status to have business executives who are not only familiar with what is going on in China, but who are also conversant with the cultures, societies and economies of the Pacific region. I propose, therefore, that our tertiary institutions give serious consideration to taking the farsighted initiative of launching area, regional and international studies, cross-cultural subjects, and the teaching of languages of East Asia and Southeast Asia. If tertiary institutions are to be able to fulfil their mission ,in producing the young leaders we need to cope with the many problems that lie ahead, they must be given adequate resources to procure the needed facilities, to introduce relevant programmes and, also, to increase their student intake. Expansion of higher education is a necessity in a developing economy. While increased expenditure on -2 - education is not of itself sufficient to stimulate economic growth, an inadequate supply of high-level manpower will surely prove to have a constraining effect. Nowhere is there greater need for an increased investment in higher education than in Hong Kong, which must meet not only the manpower needs of a developing economy, but also the chal- lenges brought by the advent of a new era. After sharing with you some of my thoughts about the future of our community and the role of higher education in charting our future course, I wish to express our gratitude to the Hong Kong Government for its continued subsidy, without which our recent improvements in the College would not have been possible. •工t is my pleasant duty to put on record our deep appreciation for all the funds, scholarships, bursaries and books donated to the College during the year under review (Appendices I and II). I wish to single out two donations of particular significance: (a) A donation of HK$1 million from Mr. Lam Chik Ho and Dr. Lam Chik Suen to help to expand the library facilities of the College; and (b) A grant of US$48,000 from the Trustees of Lingnan University in New York, to be used over a three-year period for financing programmes of staff development, for fostering links with other institutions of higher learning, and for promoting extramural courses offered by the College. In the academic year 1983-84, we were honoured by the visits of a great number of distinguished guests, which we "much appreciate (Appendix III). Last but not least, I wish to express our warmest thanks to our guest of honour Mr. Michael Leung Man Kin, J.P., Director of Education (Designate), for honouring us with his presence and address- ing the gathering. I also wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Hung Hin Shiu for leading us in our prayer and for the Bible reading, and to the Ven. Cheung Shiu Kwai, M.B.E., J.P. for invoking God's blessing on this congregation and the entire College. RECRUITMENT OF STAFF AND STUDENTS Before spiking to you about the developments in 1983-84, I am pleased to report that the College has been successful in recruit- ing high-calibre people to serve as members of our teaching and administrative staff. We begin this new academic year with Dr. Frances Lai Fung Wai serving as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Chairman of the Department of Social Sciences. She comes to us from the National University of Singapore, where she had been lecturing in political science for several years. She has been very active in doing research and participating in international conferences. Presently, she is editing a book entitled "Political and Security Dimensions in Japan- Southeast Asia Relationships". Mr. Cheung Fook Wah has been recruited to serve as Acting Chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Studies. Before getting his M.B.A. from Brunei University, Mr. Cheung had considerable experience in computing and management. Until recently, he was Principal Consultant at the Hong Kong Management Association. Two new members have joined our administrative staff. Our new Librarian is Mrs. Eleanor Ng Yuen Ka Yu. She has worked in various public libraries and was promoted to Circulation Librarian at the Hong Kong Polytechnic shortly before she joined Lingnan. Recently she was invited to serve as Adviser to the Women's Centre Resource Library of the Hong Kong Council of Women. Dr. Ip Po Keung has been appointed College Secretary.